Max Plaxton » 2011 Mountain Bike XC Nationals - Max Plaxton Interview

LOL, Kabush is what, 34? Only in Cycling is that "backsliding into the retirement home!" Love it.

If the Olympics were tomorrow I'd send Max, no doubt. Kabush is old, washed up, and past his prime. He's no where near the level he was at 05-08. He's a smart racer and has been doing well the last couple years to slow his backwards slide into the retirement home, but make no mistake, max is the present and the future. geoff was lucky to win Nationals the last FEW years. Max was distinctly better in 2009 and 2010. No chance he wont be better in 2012.

Not that it should matter, but if you want to bring that into it, I have won elite national titles on the MTB. No one is doubting what Plax can do at Pro XCT's or Canada Cups or any other race. In MTB, if you're a professional, the World Cup is the highest level. everything else is a B race in comparison. When a fresh Max beats Wells at a Pro XCT after Wells just flew home from a World Cup on the other side of the globe, I'm unimpressed.

How can you say he is now Canada's best Mountain Biker? Cause he took 3 weeks at home to train for 1 day while Kabush went up against the Worlds Best at two World Cups the previous two weekends? he beat Geoff one day, that's it. If you we're Canada and the Olympics were this Aug and you could only send one man, it's be Geoff without even blinking!
It's not saying Max isn't strong or that he can't win week in and week out. Just saying there's something wrong with his mental game if he can pop off these kind of days oer and over again domestically but can't do s#it when he's on the Big Stage. (And don't give me the "when he gets a good start spot" excuse. Every racer ever had to do their first WC's from the back row and work their way up. You start at the back because you finish at the back.